audienceartist

An audience artist is a practitioner who designs art primarily around the presence, input, or interaction of the audience as an essential part of the work. In this usage, the audience is not a passive observer but a co-creator, performer, or catalyst for meaning. The term spans a range of practices from participatory installations and performative actions to community-based projects in which audience engagement helps determine outcomes.

Practices include live performances where spectators interpret and respond, interactive installations that require audience input, and socially engaged projects that invite communities to contribute ideas, labor, or decisions. Works are often site-specific, ephemeral, and open-ended, with documentation that may be collaborative or contextual rather than fixed.

Historically, audience-centric practices intersect with relational aesthetics, social practice art, and participatory art. Critics note opportunities for democratic exchange and connection, but also challenges around authorship, accessibility, consent, and power dynamics in co-creative processes.

Notable examples include Rirkrit Tiravanija, whose curry dinners and shared meals invite visitors to participate in the social space of the gallery; Tino Sehgal, who choreographs situations in which the audience becomes performers; and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, whose interactive public installations collect audience input to shape the artwork. These and related works emphasize experience, collaboration, and collective meaning over traditional object-based production.

The label "audience artist" is not universally used; some critics prefer terms like participatory artist, relational artist, or social-practice artist for similar practices. The concept highlights the active role of spectators in defining art and mirrors broader shifts toward collaborative and audience-informed approaches in contemporary art.